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Posts tagged ‘loom knitting’

It’s been a pretty good week for me. On Monday I decided to change how I worked on my projects. Which takes me back to working on drafting one project at a time. It should also still give me time to work on plotting & editing other projects. I’ll figure out how many scenes I have to write a day to meet a deadline and those are the scenes I’ll write that day. And whatever writing time I have left will be split between editing & plotting. As long as the characters I keep waiting behave, this should work.

Yesterday was my second-youngest cousin’s wedding. Her and the youngest are only about a month apart(she got married about 1.5 years ago) and are about 8 years younger than me. I can still remember when they were really little. Hard to believe they’re married now. It was a good day. The invitation said to wear casual attire and I may have celebrated that a bit. 😉 If I can get away with wearing pants instead of a skirt or dress, oh yeah. The ceremony was pretty quick, only about 20 minutes. Then, we waited at the reception hall for about 2 hours before they got done with pictures. Good dinner, lots of dancing(that I mostly just watched, because I’d prefer to do that anyway), then we came home. Only got a comment from 1 sister(and not the one I’d thought it would come from) about me not drinking. I don’t have a problem with drinking, I just don’t do a lot of it. And I didn’t feel like it last night, so I only had a can of pop. Whatever.

Anyway, on to my progress for this week:

Write: Shoot for 10000 words between projects– 12125/10000. All of those were on Defending the Heart since I changed how I was working on things. I also got the novella in this series, Heart of Christmas, mostly brainstormed. 1 more mind map to do.

But, Piers didn’t hear any more. He was already running out the door. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to Xavier. No matter what it cost him. *yeah that doesn’t sound too good does it. The next scenes are going to be intense.

Side Projects– 1000 words/200 per project – 1178/1000 words. Didn’t quite hit 200 on each project, though. And going to shelve Fade Away. it’s just not coming together the way I’d hoped.

Midas’ Daughter – 264 words – She was definitely not what he’d first assumed. And he definitely liked the girl he was getting to know.

Fade Away – 138 words – I was fading away and no one noticed a thing.

Patrick & Sarah – 267 words – “Will,” she said, her breath catching. “He has terrors at night sometimes. I’ll just make sure he’s okay.” *yeah, pretty sure those “terrors” go by the name of Tommy.

Tavin & Haiwee – 157 words – They walked along in silence for a few minutes. It was probably better this way. Tavin was less likely to put his foot in his mouth if he kept it closed.

Roman – 225 words – She shrank away as he approached the doorway. “Couldn’t sleep,” she mumbled. “Thought I was the only one awake then I saw your light. I didn’t mean to disturb you.” *Oh, Tereza, you’ll learn you have nothing to fear from Roman

Dougal & Shae – 127 words – “How’s that going?” his father asked, his voice a little gruff. “Your new job. It everything you thought it would be, getting away from your old man.”“Da,” Dougal said, aggravation and affection mixing in his voice. “You know it’s not like that. We can’t work together, though. You had to see that, too.”

Patreon – write new side story(this one will be Mason & Lila from First Choice, Second Chance) & if I get chapter 1 of Patrick & Sarah’s story back from beta & edited I’ll post it too– I got the Mason & Lila story started Saturday morning. 123 words. And I got Chapter 1 back Friday night but have only read through the comments so far. Will start working on edits this week. I did send Chapter 1 of Tavin & Haiwee to beta as well.

Mason & Lila – “How’d you know I was looking for Lila?” he asked before the rest went through his head. He’d been up early doing chores and really could have used more caffeine before coming to school. “What do you mean pop quiz? And how do you know about it if it’s supposed to be a secret?” *I may like writing Mason & Brian’s early friendship as much as I do Mason & Lila getting together.

Snow White Twist – read through– started the read through. Got through Chapter 1 as of this morning.

Listen: From the Moment We Met(Marina Adair) & The Emerald Brooch(Katherine Lowry Logan) – finished From the Moment We Met(really enjoyed) and have listened to almost half of The Emerald Brooch(loving it)

Read: Walk the Edge(Katie McGarry), Leveling the Field(Megan Erickson), Ignite(Rebecca Yarros), Forbidden(Beverly Jenkins), Murder Comes Ashore(Julie Anne Lindsey),Destiny(Carly Phillips),and It’s Always Been You(Jessica Scott) – Finished Walk the Edge(loved), Leveling the Field(loved), and Ignite(enjoyed). I liked Forbidden, though it felt like she kept putting historical details in she’d found during research even if they didn’t really have a place in the story, and it kept yanking me out of it. I really enjoyed Murder Comes Ashore(though I’m not Team Sebastian, honestly he kept pissing me off. I like Adrian much better). I finished Destiny on the drive to the wedding and enjoyed it. I’d taken my kindle along too but hadn’t thought to load It’s Always Been You before leaving the house(hadn’t realized it was in the cloud not already on the device) and didn’t have internet available to do that. So, I ended up starting one that was already on the kindle, Dancer of the Nile(Veronica Scott). I’m only 19% through it now. I’ll probably read It’s Always Been You today then pick Dancer back up.

Crochet: Flower Coaster– I finished this one

Loom: Ambrosia Love Scarf– got this one started but not too far

A to Z Challenge: Draft – Post B, C-Z – I finished the ‘B’ post and have 536 words for ‘C’.

A lot of green for this week. Happy with that and the blue. These goals are only going to go through Tuesday. Then, I’m going to go straight from my monthly goals instead of making a list each week(I’ll still have that weekly list in my to-do lists, just not here). Until then, my goals for finishing up February:

“Graduated” from Pre-K, even though they still have 2.5 days of school left.

Well, at least the last couple days have felt like summer. In the 80s(out thermometer even read at least 90 yesterday). And it’s only the end of May. If it gets much hotter, not sure how I’ll handle it(and yes, those of you to the south of me, I’m a wimp when it comes to the heat). Kids had Friday off from school, and they started off at each others’ throats. So, it’s going to be fun when summer vacation officially starts Thursday afternoon.

Even the dogs are too hot to do much of anything

I made some good writing progress during the week, though. Also decided on a new way to work through my WiPs. I have them all entered in mywriteclub.com and keep track of my overall progress on them there. So, it gives a percentage of how close I am to my goal. So, each week, I’m taking the ones that I’m the farthest from that goal on. Which will always leave one out(at least for now). But, the two that are farthest along are actually pretty close. So, I figure I’ll be working on one the first week and probably the other the next. I’ll reevaluate which ones I’m working on each week. We’ll see how this plan goes for now. I’ll be counting all of these toward my JuNoWriMo goal, though.

Write/edit for 20 hours– 18 hours, 50 minutes. Only a little more than an hour off from my goal. Not too bad. And I wrote 11382 words during that time and notes on the different settings for Guarding the Heart

Ready When You Are – 2307 words

Paint Me a Picture – 1209 words

Carlos & Tereza – 2020 words(+1787 words on Story a Day piece)

Break on Me – 2970 words

In the Moonlight – 2876 words

Stained by Ashes – compiled notes for Chapter 2 into master document

Guarding the Heart – As I said, I wrote notes for the various settings, but didn’t go through to make sure descriptions are all clear.

Dance with the Devil – get to 2000 words – got to 2213 words, plus I have two Story a Day pieces that will fit into this(probably close to another 2k).

Goin’ Down – get to 1750 words – got to 1705 words. Not quite my goal but some progress

Snow White Twist – get to 1500 words– 1412 words. Again, not quite to goal. Though I have an idea where it’s going.

Read: Storyworld First – get to 90%– made it this far. Shouldn’t have a problem finishing by the end of the month.

Read: Finish Priya in Heels(Ayesha Patel), Wild Man(Kristen Ashley), Forged in Stone(Alyssa Rose Ivy), Prophecy(Julie Anne Lindsey),& Sworn(Kate Sparkes) – I finished Forged in Stone(was okay, but never felt all that drawn in), Prophecy(enjoyed this one), and about halfway through Sworn(and really enjoying it so far).

Loom: 2 Way Headband– finished this! Woohoo! I’m going to take the next couple month off from crafting. Too hot to work with yarn right now.

Story a Day: Finish 7 Stories– finished these(just barely! Posted today’s in the middle of writing this). Only 2 more to go. As long as I finish those, this will be the first time I’ve written all 31 stories in May.

No Matter What – this comes about the middle(maybe a little farther) in Ready When You Are. Kelan knows he needs to take steps to protect those he cares about.

But Everything – Rylan tells Kirsten just what he wants out of their relationship.

Believe in You – Some of Carlos’ back story…when he realizes there are some people who believe in him and are willing to give him a second(and sometimes third) chance

Talk to You – Gabriel has a talk with his father, which goes better than he expected.

Immensity of It – Yasmin tours the grounds of the house she inherited and is a little overwhelmed

Pressed – Hawk and Devil arguing when Hawk wants more than Devil thinks he can give

Only Hawk – Continuation of ‘Pressed’. Something finally breaks between Devil and Hawk

Lots of green and blue there! My favorite colors!!(Really, they are, even aside from this). Now, goals for next week(well, through Tuesday for most of them. Aside from the writing, don’t have next month’s goals figured yet).

Write/edit 20 hours for the week

Dance with the Devil – get to 2500 words

Goin Down – get to 2000 words

Snow White Twist – get to 1750 words

Read: Storyworld First – 100%. Choose next craft/research book. Read 15% of it

It was pretty cool over the weekend and rainy. The last couple days, it’s been downright warm. Hopefully the weather balances out. The extremes are a bit too much for me.

He’s got his blankie and duck? What else does a pup need?

I saw a thing on Pinterest one day about how to write 5000 words in one day. I used to be able to do this. Lately, not so much. But, their schedule started at like 8 a.m. I usually start my writing day between 4-5 a.m. So, I printed out a weekly schedule and used the same basic idea to work out the best way it would work for me. Only on the first day of this. And I’ll probably only get about 4000 words. But, it’s still more than what I have been writing.

My new schedule. May rework it & possibly type it so things fit better

Anyway, today is Wednesday, which means time for another WiPPet snippet. Today I’m sharing from Carlos & Tereza’s story once again. I have the last 7 paragraphs(2+5) that I wrote last week. This week’s words are typed in the mywriteclub.com word sprints(which autosaves to dropbox), and I haven’t copied them into the document yet. Anyway, Tereza is talking to Carlos’ brother here, and he is being less than cooperative even though she’s trying to help him.

Tereza scowled at her client. What did he think? That she could pull off miracles? “But, I need your help for that. When all the evidence points to you as the one responsible, I need to find something to throw doubt on that. And I can’t do it all on my own.”

“Then, what good are you?”

Tereza sighed and dropped her head into her hands. He really was impossible. How was it he and Carlos were related? She knew the other man could be stubborn, but this? This went beyond anything she’d seen before. Tereza slapped her hands on the table and leaned closer to him. “Look. Do you want me to help or not? If not, I’ll tell your brother I did everything I could, but you decided to take the fall for something you didn’t do. Because if you don’t work with me, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. They have you sewn up pretty tight, and if that girl’s prognosis doesn’t change, that attempted murder charge is going to get bumped up.”

She caught a quick flicker of…something pass through his eyes. It wasn’t just fear, but what almost looked like pain. Or even grief. “She was more than just some girl you saw on the streets, wasn’t she? What’s she to you, Brent? Was she your girl?”

One corner of his mouth lifted in a snarl. “You don’t know a damn thing about it. She’s good. Damn it, she’s good. She wasn’t coming down there to slum it with me.”

It was the first real hint of anger, not just defensiveness, she’d seen from him. She definitely thought she was on the right track, then.

“But, you cared for her, didn’t you?”

Yeah, Brent is in a real mess here. But, will he let anyone help him out of it? Or will there be more trouble to come? (I’m sure you all can guess the answer to that last one).

Now, for the progress I’ve made so far this week:

Write/edit for 20 hours– 9 hours, 40 minutes. Still falling a little behind with this, but my new schedule should help. I’ve written 7323 words so far this week.

Ready When You Are – 2307 words

Paint Me a Picture – 1209 words

Carlos & Tereza – 2020 words(+1787 words on Story a Day piece)

Stained by Ashes – compiled notes for Chapter 2 into master document

Guarding the Heart – absolutely nothing! have to make notes so I keep settings consistent and yeah. Keep procrastinating

Dance with the Devil– get to 2000 words – no progress yet this week

Goin’ Down – get to 1750 words– no progress yet this week

Snow White Twist – get to 1500 words– no progress yet this week

Read: Storyworld First – get to 90%– I’m at 81%.

Read: Finish Priya in Heels(Ayesha Patel), Wild Man(Kristen Ashley),Forged in Stone(Alyssa Rose Ivy), Prophecy(Julie Anne Lindsey), & Sworn(Kate Sparkes)– Finished Priya in Heels(really enjoyed), Wild Man(liked it better than the first book, but still had some issues. Judging from excerpt of next book, not sure I’ll get it. If I do, it’ll probably be from the used book store. Whole 1st chapter was pretty much female lead referring to herself as a 2.5 and pretty much everyone else an 8 or up. I wanted to finish out the series, but I don’t know). I’m a little more than halfway through Forged in Stone and still not sure what I think of it. I’ll probably still finish it, though.

Loom: 2 Way Headband– I’ve got this started.

Story a Day: Finish 7 Stories– 3/7 stories finished. Right on track. You can read all of this month’s stories here(actually I still have to update with at least yesterday’s and today’s, but all the rest are there).

No Matter What – a bit with Kelan and stuff going down in the middle of Ready When You Are(okay, a little past the middle)

But Everything – a bit from Paint Me a Picture, getting toward some steaminess.

Believe in You – this is some of Carlos’ backstory.(I wrote this same piece earlier in the month, but this time it’s in 1st instead of 3rd)

I’m running late today. I could make excuses, but basically: I meant to edit 1 chapter of Stained Snow, but then ended up reading through the rest of it and got caught up in it. Oops? So, I fell behind on the rest of my stuff, too. Typing this up while I get dinner ready.

Adrian pulled up in front of Caitie’s apartment. “You sure you don’t want me to drop you at Mark’s?”
She shook her head. “Doesn’t make sense for him to bring me back here every morning so I can change. I’m going to pack a few things up and drive my car over.”
He stared at her. “You ready to move in with him already?”
“I’m not moving in. Just leaving a few things there.”
His lips quirked up. “That’s the first step, you know. More and more stuff will get left there, until you live there more than you do here.”
“Fine with me. He can get used to me that way.”
Adrian laughed. “Caitie, none of us can get used to you.”

Gotta love family. Especially when you work with them. 😉

Now, on to my RoW80 update:

Love Who You Love – get to 28000 words – sitting at 26096 right now. Staying on track.

Flames of Retribution – Polish – working on the last 1/3 of the list of words. On ‘was’ right now, which always takes forever.

Stained Snow – continue to edit chapters as I get them back. – I have 9/11 chapters edited

Come Back Down – get to 16000 words– 14123/16000 words

Read: Writing Vivid Settings – 80% – 67%

Read: Between Everything and Us(Rebecca Paula),The Siren(Tiffany Reisz), Only His(Susan Mallery), The Year We Fell Down(Sarina Bowen), Star Cruise: Marooned(Veronica Scott), Not in the Script(Amy Finnegan), & A Home By the Sea (Christina Skye) – Finished Between Everything and Us on Monday and really enjoyed it, even if I was crying through part of the end. Started The Siren yesterday and got about half of it. Nothing wrong with it, but it’s just not the book for me. So, I’m going to be moving on to Only His later today.

Loom: Zig Zag Hat – have made a little progress on this.

A lot of green so far this week. Hoping to turn some of that to blue by this weekend.